


Fear no fate, darling

by masongirl



Series: Request Game drabbles [1]
Category: Band of Brothers (TV 2001)
Genre: Affection, Battle of the Bulge 1944-1945, Canon Compliant, Cold Weather, Drabble, Episode: s01e06 Bastogne, Fear, Holding Hands, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, Sharing Body Heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:14:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24770674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masongirl/pseuds/masongirl
Summary: Shifty has a nightmare while he and Floyd are sleeping in their shared foxhole.
Relationships: Shifty Powers/Floyd Talbert
Series: Request Game drabbles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1792132
Comments: 16
Kudos: 35





	Fear no fate, darling

**Author's Note:**

> Requested on tumblr :)

Tab gasps as an elbow connects with his stomach, waking him from a blessedly empty dream. For a second, he doesn't know which way is up in the pitch black foxhole he's spending this miserable night in, but then, the chill cuts through his numb limbs and he realizes that the warmth on his right is missing, because Shifty has moved away, trashing and scrabbling at the dirt. All but blind in the darkness, Tab reaches for him and finds his wrists, grabs them tight. It just makes the struggle worse - Shifty whimpers and tries to kick him.

"Shifty. Shifty!" Tab hisses, shaking him. With a terrified gasp, Shifty startles awake. 

"I'm sorry," is the first coherent sentence he says. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Don't worry about it. Are you all right?"

"Yes, of course. I'm real sorry about that."

"I was already awake." Tab lies, because he knows Shifty would feel guilty about it for hours otherwise. Every blink of undisturbed rest they can get in Bastogne's dead forest is precious. 

"It's hard to sleep in this cold, isn't it?" Shifty's sunshine-warm voice wavers, he can't keep it up. The puffs of his breaths don't come out evenly. "I wonder how small animals make it through the winter here."

Tab lets his freezing hands slip down from Shifty's wrists to his fingertips. He closes his fists around them to bring some of the warmth back to Shifty's thin fingers. Although this… thing between them is still tentative, it's one of the only comforts they have. He doesn't know if they will ever take it further than a few kisses after another shelling they've lived through, but he knows they need it. These secret touches are the only bright spots that keep him going through the day.

He scoots closer to Shifty's shivering body and lays his head on Shifty's shoulder. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Nothing worth talking about."

"Come on. We're… friends, aren't we?"

"Yes." Shifty whispers back, rubbing his thumbs against Tab's gloves. "Good friends." 

Tab wishes they had a better word for it, this connection, that he had the guts to acknowledge he might want more. He presses Shifty's hands together and cups his own around them, hoping to preserve more heat. "Whatever it was, you can tell me."

Shifty sighs. "I'm scared of corpses." He admits quietly. "Of moving corpses."

"Zombies? I'm sure that the Germans are incapable of such witchcraft." 

As if he didn't even hear it, Shifty goes on. His knee presses harder against Tab's. "I don't have nice dreams here."

"None of us do."

"When I fall asleep, the men I shot get up and walk towards me, and I cannot move. They try to grab me and drag me to hell." The pitch of his voice rises. "Tab, their eyes are pure white."

What can he say to that? Tab has more fears than he cares to admit, but has never feared the dead. They are gone, and there's no stepping back once someone crosses the threshold to the afterlife. "They are just ghosts in your mind."

For the longest time, their foxhole stays quiet, and Tab drifts off again, sliding his arm around Shifty's stomach in a tight embrace. These scraps of affection are almost enough to forget the ache of the persistent chill attacking him from the other side. When Shifty speaks up again, it's barely louder than the sound of swishing branches outside. "Do you think I will go to hell? For the things I've done here?"

Tab raises his head. He can't see Shifty's face, but he finds it with his left hand and strokes his cheek. "None of us deserve heaven more than you do, darling." 

The endearment leaves his lips before he could think twice about it. It's a reflex, because this is how he talks to his sweethearts and his mind has lapsed into sluggishness for a moment, forgetting the difference. But he doesn't regret it, because it seems to be the shock that finally breaks the mood.

Shifty chuckles and pushes his hand away. "I'm no lady, Floyd."

Grinning, Tab burrows back down to sleep. "Don't I know it…"

_ ~End~ _

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is appreciated. 🌼


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